OPENING UP THE TIMES

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ABSTRACT: ANNALS OF COMMUNICATIONS about the New York Times. One indication of change below the surface is what Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., who has been publisher of the Times for 17 months now, has been putting his executives through–the equivalent of an Outward Bound adventure. He recalls his own Outward Bound experience as “a defining moment for me,” because, he says, “it pushed me to limits in places I just had never been.” What the editors and the executives of the “Times” have been asked to endure instead is an intense emotional search for the kind of “self-discovery” and “teamwork” that Outward Bound extolls. Sulzberger knows that the immediate question looming largest over the Times is the strength of its New York advertising base. While the paper's daily circulation for 1992 was an all-time high of 1,181,500 copies, advertising lineage has failed about 40% since 1987. Sulzberger is also aware of another potential pitfall: family discord. The signals that Sulzberger is sending through his actions are unmistakable: he is eager to change the Times, and is impatient with the resistance he sometimes encounters. He wants more minority employees in executive positions. He wants more women in executive positions. He wants a less authoritarian newsroom and a business side that is more nimble. He wants each member of the staff to feel “empowered” as part of a team.” One of his missions is to humanize the place,” Steve Rattner, who exercises with him, said.